CAIRO, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Egypt's president added fellowIslamists to a reshuffled government on Sunday and the newfinance minister pledged to finish talks on an IMF loan to staveoff a currency crisis that risks provoking more popular unrest.

A senior IMF official is due in Cairo on Monday to meetEgyptian leaders over the $4.8 billion loan deal, which waspostponed last month to give Egypt more time to tackle politicaltensions before introducing unpopular austerity measures.

The new finance minister Al-Mursi Al-Sayed Hegazy is anexpert on Islamic finance and is seen as sympathetic to the aimsand thinking of President Mohamed Mursi, elected in June, and tohis Muslim Brotherhood. A Brotherhood spokesman denied Hegazywas a member but said three other new ministers were.

The new ministers in what is still largely a government ofnon-partisan technocrats take office in an economic crisis whichhas seen the currency lose more than a tenth of its value sincethe uprising two years ago which toppled Hosni Mubarak.

Political unrest over a new Islamist-tinged constitution haddelayed tax increases believed to be key to the IMF deal, but ina brief statement, Hegazy said he was "completely ready tocomplete discussions" with the International Monetary Fund.

The political conflict triggered lethal street protests lastmonth that added to pressure on the Egyptian pound andspeculators began exchanging local currency for dollars.

As Hegazy spoke on Sunday, the pound reached a newlow, trading at 6.45 to the dollar. It has lost more than 4percent of its value against the dollar since the central bankbrought in a new system of currency auctions on Dec. 30 in aneffort to preserve the country's dwindling foreign reserves.

Importers have warned that the weakening currency anduncertainty about how low it will go could lead to sharp risesin the prices of imports including food.

Hegazy, who replaces Mumtaaz Al-Saeed, a career bureaucrat, teaches economics at Alexandria University. In 1985, he earned adoctorate from the University of Connecticut, according to abiography provided by Alexandria University. It listed two dozenpapers on Islamic economics which he had written or reviewed.

"Dr. Mursi would like to be sure that he has a cabinet whichshares his major orientations," said Mustapha Kamel Al-Sayyid, aprofessor of political science at Cairo University.

"He wants to be surrounded by like-minded ministers."

RESERVES CRITICAL

The IMF signed the loan deal in November but finalratification was postponed last month at Cairo's behest becauseof the unrest set off by Mursi's drive to fast-track acontroversial new constitution.

Fearing further public anger at the time, Mursi cancelledtax increases believed to be part of a package of austeritymeasures agreed as part of the IMF deal.

The constitution was approved in a popular referendum andsigned into law on Dec. 26.

The IMF said on Saturday its Middle East director, MasoodAhmed, would visit Cairo to meet Egyptian officials to discussrecent economic developments and "possible IMF support for Egyptin facing these challenges".

Prime Minister Kandil said Monday's meeting aimed toreassure the IMF about the government's plans and the economy'scapacity for recovery.

The Brotherhood is wary of any government measures thatcould damage its popularity ahead of a parliamentary electiondue to get under way by the end of February.

The IMF deal is seen as vital for boosting investorconfidence and staving off a financial crisis.

Having spent more than half the country's foreign exchangereserves defending the pound since Mubarak was toppled, thecentral bank has warned the reserves had fallen to a criticallevel. Economists say the country's readily available foreignreserves will cover just over two months of imports.

The central bank said the reserves were at $15.015 billionin December - little changed from November's level.

The pound slid by half a percent on Sunday at the centralbank's fifth auction of foreign currency under the new auctionsystem designed to preserve the reserves.

The bank sold all of the $60 million it had offered to banksat Sunday's auction. Last week, the bank sold $300 million atfour similar auctions which bankers have described as a movetowards a free float of the currency.